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Delivery, Mobility and Data Security Dominate Tech News in June

6/30/2017
Looking back over the past 30 days, several headlines dominated Hospitality Technology’s website. Not surprisingly, news articles on breach protection and data security proved popular, while delivery technology headlines also had HT readers feverishly clicking to find out more.
 
According to HT’s 2017 Restaurant Technology Study, half of technology leaders are paying attention to delivery services integration. As restaurants continue to evolve to meet customer expectations, delivery services will evolve as well.
 
This was a topic during a presentation at the 2017 National Restaurant Association Show. There, Cicely Simpson, executive vice president government affairs & policy, National Restaurant Association and Anna Tauzin, vice president, marketing and innovation, Texas Restaurant Association, discussed the rise of digital restaurants and how third party delivery services will soon include drones and robots. Read more about it here.
 
On a related note, two restaurant chains – Denny's and El Pollo Loco – announced the rollout of their new mobile apps which, among other things, facilitate food delivery. Both companies are working with Olo's Dispatch delivery service to ensure customers can get their food where they want it, when they want it. Denny's also announced that customers will be able to order from the restaurant via Facebook and Twitter. Read Denny's announcement here and El Pollo Loco's announcement here.
 
Marriott International was also busy in June announcing its Facebook Messenger Chat Extension. Chat extensions are a brand new feature from Facebook Messenger that empowers brands to provide interactive, social features that users can drop directly into their conversations. In simpler words: chat extensions are bots for conversations with friends and family. Marriott Rewards is the first hospitality brand with a chat extension. Read all about it here.
 
Data breaches remain for a top concern for operators. It's no wonder that Trustwave's release of its 2017 Trustwave Global Security Report, which reveals the top cybercrime, data breach and security threat trends from 2016, was highly read by operators. The report found, among other things, that in North America, 20% of all data breach incidents are in the food and beverage industry and incidents affecting POS systems increased to 31% in 2016, from 22% in 2015. Learn what else the report discovered here.
 
With data breaches to of mind within the industry, the announcement from global law firm Reed Smith LLP of its launch of Breach RespondeRS, a free app designed to help companies – such as those in hospitality – know what type of data breach notifications they're responsible for sending out was also popular among HT readers. Nearly every state in the United States has a data security breach law, requiring notice when certain personal information is lost, stolen, or misused. But the many laws differ in small but crucial respects, making it difficult to get to a bottom line. The app can aid in both post-incident response as well as pre-incident assessment for identifying risks under different scenarios to help companies to prepare accordingly. Learn more about the app here.
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